Unexpected Joys

Running late for church on Sunday, Kidzilla and I were rushing to get ready. Fab Husband took her ahead to get her situated in the car seat. Suddenly, with panic in her voice, she hollered from the front door, “Dadda!  My purse!”

I hollered back, “I’ve got it,” and headed out the door behind them.

As we drove, Zilla asked, “Mom, what’s in my purse?” I told her the purse was empty today because we were late.  There was no time to stop and pack any of the usual items: Disney Princess nail polish, sparkle-filled lip balm, and tissues (because a lady always carries tissues in her purse). Today, the purse was purely for aesthetic purposes.

“Okay, Mamma,” she said, and returned to singing.

Three minutes later, a surprised gasp came from the back seat.

“Oh, Mamma!  There is something in my purse!”

“There is?”  Not sure I wanted to know the answer while I was driving, I asked “what is it?”

“Butterflies!”

I couldn’t help but smile (and we didn’t crash) because I knew exactly what they were.  They were not live butterflies, of course – just some leftover plastic cake decorations from her birthday party.  But they are her favorite colors and they are actually pretty wonderful.  What a lovely discovery – to peek inside something presumed empty and find such simple and unexpected joy.  And plastic though they are, in my mind’s eye – and I suspect my daughter’s as well – they may as well have been real ones fluttering up out of that tiny little purse.

It made her day.  And that made my day.  It was pretty awesome.

William Wordsworth and C. S. Lewis both wrote about the ways joy surprises us.  The Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is filled with verses on the topic of joy.  These are all good reads, each worthy of contemplation and likely to prompt wonderful conversation.  I highly recommend all of them – take a look and leave your comments here, if you like.

And after you do that, remain open to the simple joys in your every day.  I had unexpected butterflies in mine today.  And after that – or perhaps because of that – I found joy in several things this Sunday afternoon:

• an open umbrella offered in a rainstorm
• a memory relived
• a story told about the memory triggered by the umbrella
• a movie and a bowl of hot popcorn shared on the couch
• a summer thunderstorm watched from the front window together

Maybe what our unexpected butterflies reminded me today was that perhaps we should expect to find joy.  But if joy is expected, how can we be surprised by it?  Maybe the idea is to seek joy not in the expected – in the big moments, the obvious joys – but rather in the smaller, simpler ones.  The unexpected ones.  Decide that the smaller, simpler joys are the great joys.

What unexpected joys surprised you today?